Chase and Darling's Misadventures
by Lilacnightmares
Summary: Darling and Chase work on their newfound friendship while Chase teaches Darling more about Wonderlandian culture. Commission from Tumblr.


"Got you on your toes, Redford!"

"You wish, Charming!"

"How come you're the one with egg on your face, then?"

"Oh, you'll regret those fairy fighting words!"

"I'll make you eat them first!"

Sword clashed against sword as both Darling and Chase were having a practice match. Ever since Wonderland had been freed from its curse and opened back to the rest of the world, Darling had been able to enter through the doorway to the country the way that people had for ions. Instead of ducking underneath a burrow and finding her way through the twisty sea of magic.

She had revealed her secret to all of Ever After once the girls had helped solve the curse and all of Ever After High came to the Red Castle to celebrate both the lifting of the curse and Lizzie's mother's birthday.

Her brothers had been very surprised at her antics.

Well, Daring was the one who was utterly shocked to his core. He had no idea that Darling was interested in anything chivalrous and well, things that a Charming boy was supposed to do with his time. Dexter knew that Darling was capable of being a knight after she took over for him when he got injured and couldn't let down the team out on the field.

But, neither of them expected to find out that she had been masquerading as a true knight.

Especially not in Wonderland of all places.

She could still see the way their eyes widened and how they both gasped and stammered some kind of response that was nonsensical. Both Daring and Dexter were immediately onboard and behind her back when she was honest with them and they stood behind her promising that if anyone said a word about it was the smallest bit negative then they would take care of it. That was just what brothers did.

Darling could handle herself but she loved her brother's and how much they cared about her.

It was harder to come clean with their parents but she hadn't yet been ready for that conversation. They were very traditionalist when it came to certain matters and even though they had softened some with years, there was a hesitancy that still stuck in her gut.

Soon, Darling promised herself.

As far as everyone else…

The rest of the students were surprised as well but to varying degrees of surprise. A lot more people than she expected actually cheered and gave her a pat on the back when she returned to school the next day. So many of the people that she thought would think poorly or different for her for doing something so unlike what a princess "would" or "should" be doing.

Ever since Raven had started the movement of freedom and rebellion, students and adults had started to change their minds one by one. It didn't mean that everybody agreed with the sentiment but so many people were now open to change and open to new horizons.

Darling was grateful to her friend for taking that bold step forward when she had been too hesitant to take it herself back then. Sure, she took the knight's hand when she had the chance but she did it undercover and she did it without anyone having their eyes on her back. It was so much easier for people to do things that they genuinely wanted to do now.

There wasn't any judgment.

There wasn't any persecution.

It was just students happily existing and doing what they were supposed to do in high school. It was how the students who weren't bound by destiny would be expected to do, the residents of kingdoms would always be just that in the storybook of legends, unnamed people who worked and lived in the places that the stories took place.

Now everybody could just breathe and be happy; It all that so many of them had ever dreamed of.

She wasn't the only Rebel that benefited from this. Ginger Breadhouse was able to bake without people looking at her in disgust, Cedar Wood could exist without worrying about what a lie would do to her, Melody Piper could follow her dreams of becoming a DJ without worrying about what people would think her music would do to them, even Cerise Hood could happily come out of the woodwork with her parents and sister now that the ban on anything that went against the stories was gone.

Ever After was starting to truly become a better place for so many people.

However, as much as Darling loved Ever After, she truly loved Wonderland and the amount of freedom that it had given her since she had stumbled there one afternoon. She loved this place in spite of its kooky madness.

Darling turned her attention back to Chase when his sword almost countered her swing and gave her the match point but she ducked at just the right moment, giving her time to bounce back and get some distance from him. She laughed in his face and kept going.

Chase made a face and took up his stance to go around once more.

Chase had become somewhat of a rival and friend ever since she had revealed her identity to him. Since there had been no heir to the White Knight's legacy, he had never really anyone to spar with that was up to par with his skills and confidence. He took to Darling fairly quickly when she showed up, at first he thought that old White Knight had finally caught his second wind and he was living a new kind of energy.

But he had started to suspect otherwise when the moves of the White Knight were so different from the Wonderlandian style.

Apparently, there was a style of fighting that was specifically dictated by their culture that she had no idea of.

She had just been going off of what she learned by watching the groups of boys in the knight classes and some of the defense tactics that Maid Marian had shown her when they both had free time. It was a mixed style that consisted of things that she had put together on her own, and while it gave her an edge over people, it wasn't quite what people expected from a Wonderlander.

Chase had been advising her on the right way to fight like a true warrior of madness. They were even doing it right now in between some of their fighting words. Chase took the offense and rushed towards Darling as she scrambled up a tree and stared down at him.

"The way to fight like a Wonderlander is to always have them thinking. You look for an opening and you do the first thing that comes to your mind, no matter what your brain tells you. If that means you need to climb a tree trunk and launch a kettle of tea at somebody, then that's what you do! Why one time I had to face off against someone and the only weapon I had on my person that day was a few party supplies… I was helping my Mom set up for an unbirthday party and a few visitors made a ruckus. So, I grabbed the streamers and the rest was history."

He walked around the tree and waited with bated breath to see where and which angle she would use against him. Darling flipped out of the tree, launching an attack that Chase tried to hold off with his sword but ultimately his knees buckled underneath him and he was knocked onto the ground where Darling pressed her sword to the tip of his sword as a point.

She had bested him; She was really learning how to hold her own. Her instinctual reaction was to dance, and that mad topped dance with her arms waving about to and fro and legs kicking out in all directions. Now that was a true fairy mash. Darling pulled back her sword and offered him her hand which he gladly took once she gave up her victory dance.

"You're telling me you took down a couple of guys with party streamers? Party streamers, Chase, really?"

"All while laughing like a true Wonderlandian," Chase smiled. "Which, you're really starting to the hang of being. Dancing is not that far from fighting here in wonderland, isn't that how you managed to beat me in the first place?"

Ah, that warmed her heart. It meant a lot that her wonderland friends were really starting to treat her like she was a part of the story. Darling was happy that she had found such a true friend in Chase Redford. It felt like such a breeze whenever she came to Wonderland to cool off and let off some steam. With their usual session taken care of, both Darling and Chase now spent the rest of their afternoon wandering the groves and hills.

"So, why don't you tell me about your Wonderland? All I've ever known is how I perceive this place. Which is well," Darling poked at the fizzling water that was bubbling up from the ground and stretching far and wide into the sky. "Charmingly mad."

Chase paused for a second as he thought about where to start. There were so many places and so many things that she hadn't yet become accustomed to. "Well, you've already started to get the hang of how we fight. But you've only scratched the surface of what the rest of this place is like. Have you ever learned about the White Knight and what he does per the stories?"

Darling thought for a moment. "Well, he's kind of an eccentric man… I still visit him every now and again when I drop by. He can be rather clumsy but he is very clever with his fast thinking inventions. I'm still surprised by some of the stuff I find laying out his workshop. That's really all he's been doing since I took the job from him. He just makes his own devices for others and himself. I still don't know how to work half of his contraptions."

"Yeah, exactly," Chase said. "In the legend, that's what catches Alice's eyes when she tumbles over here from the looking glass on her second visit. The White Knight is the one that leads her back to our game of chess. I haven't seen the old man in a while. I'm not surprised to hear that he's making whatever comes to his mind."

"It's crafty. That's for sure."

Chase paused on one of the bridges that they came across. They were both standing outside down as they gazed upon the seas of time in front of them, and the pools of water that swirled and twisted into an endless green blue that seemingly went on forever after. It really was a sight to behold.

Wonderland was really looking better than ever. It was like the life that had been lost was now returning and the true character of the land was back to its splendor. The trees were fuller and more twisty then they had been, the dodo birds were having an afternoon sabbatical over tea and crumpets in the middle of the sidewalk, and the sky was perfectly polka-dotted, wait, no, now it was stripped and starred.

Everyone that had been blocked off from the land for nearly a decade could now return, and new friends alike could take a gander at this beautiful place.

"People say that Wonderland is a hub for all the magic in Ever After. I'd have to agree with them, every part of this place is hexcellent. It's never quite the same but it always has this fairy strong feeling of curiosity. Maddie was right when she told me that I would really love this place once I kept coming. Of course, her dad's tea shop is lively now. I stopped by earlier on my way to meet up with you, he gave me some tasty tea cakes."

Chase nodded his head. "Another delicacy. Anything that comes out of the Mad Hatter's oven has the same power as something the Breadhouse family can make. Of course, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to finish your food because sometimes they sprout wings and fly away."

"That's how I lost a pie. Except it grew a face and tried to bite my hand before it escaped from the cafe!"

Both of them burst into laughter.

"Yeah, it'll do that. I don't think it's like that in Ever After."

"It's not, but that's what I love so much about Wonderland. You never know what to expect and the next day is always different from the day before. Back home it's the same old, same old, with nothing changing end to end. I know what I'll be doing forever after, but that's not always a bad thing. I know that I'll be spending time with my brothers and friends every day. I might not always like the way things are back there, but there are so many little things that make it feel like home. Sort of like how I feel when I'm here."

"Well, I'm glad you're interested in learning more about this place. There's so much that I couldn't unpack it into a day. There are things that even Wonderlanders don't know about Wonderland."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It makes me wonder what it's like in Ever After. Sure, it has its faults just like any other place, but you make the parts and pieces that you love sound really interesting."

"You should come to Ever After High one of these days," Darling suddenly said. She laughed at the strange look that crossed Chase's face. "That way you could learn about it without having to ask me. After all, it's better to see things for yourself. I don't think I could ever figure it all out just from hearing things from you. It never really clicks until I'm standing in front of it. Like now, seeing all this water pouring out from nowhere."

"I have to keep guard over the land, y'know, I never really have time for breaks," Chase said.

She shook her head in mirth. "Hex no, ever since Raven and Apple have made a stand on destiny and what it can mean, things started to really change. You can feel it right? There's been a lot less conflict for us to keep at bay lately. It's nearly peaceful, again. And I think you've earned yourself a vacation."

Chase was hesitant to think about leaving his post. Even though Darling had a point in her words about what she was saying. Things were getting better in a way, and he had spent more time dozing off on the job than fighting off foes lately.

"Well… I'll think about it."

Darling beamed. "Now, what do you say we go and get some tea? I don't think I can get the full experience of Wonderland unless we're having a drink on the rooftop with a bird and a squirrel and in a top hat."


End file.
